‘When is it supposed to stop?’ Murdered man’s mother pleads for Macon violence to end
Three minutes after the man who gunned down her son was convicted of murder on Thursday, Debbie Mister addressed the court and told of the heartache the killer had caused.
Mister’s 21-year-old son Clintavious was shot to death outside an east Macon gas mart two years ago.
His killing, recorded by a security camera at Ken’s Food Mart on Irwinton Road, had earlier been described by the judge and a prosecutor as one of the most callous they had ever seen. An execution, they called it.
A video of the July 1, 2019, slaying was played at least twice for jurors in Lemegia Amez Willis’ murder trial in Bibb County Superior Court this week. The video depicted a harrowing, gruesome scene. It showed the mortally wounded Clintavious crawling through his own blood — on his hands and knees — into the store for help.
Debbie Mister had left the courtroom when those images were shown. But for most of the two-day trial, she was there as the disturbing details of Clintavious’ death emerged.
In the minutes after the guilty verdict was read Thursday afternoon, Debbie Mister had her say.
Her victim impact statement, as such remarks are known, was brief and heartbreaking.
Through sobs, she spoke for just 40 seconds. But it was enough. Enough to afford anyone who heard it a grim glimpse into the nightmare of losing a child to violence.
“I can’t even stay in my home,” she said, referring to how memories of her slain son make being there too painful. “I pay my mortgage, but I can’t stay there. ... I miss my baby so much. Everywhere I look I can see his face.”
Then she acknowledged the court, the prosecutors, the police. She said she appreciated them bringing justice.
“I want to thank y’all for doing this for me,” she said.
Then she turned her attention to the town where her son lost his life, a place that since the night of his death has been home to 106 homicides.
“When is it supposed to stop,” she wondered aloud, “these murders in Macon? I’m hoping it will stop because this is just senseless. It don’t make no sense just going off and killing people for no reason at all.”
Her voice caught as she gasped, crying, and said no more.
The judge nodded. “I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am.”